Our CEO, Karen Mitchell, responds to the recent CCC report
On Monday, the Met Office confirmed that June was the UK’s hottest on record. Days before that, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the independent group which advises the government on emissions targets and reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, released its annual report, saying that their “confidence in the UK meeting its goals from 2030 onwards is now markedly less than a year ago”.
The 438 page report cites a lack of urgency, and urges the Government to stick to existing commitments and ensure their delivery, with immediate action needed in a range of areas to meet the emissions pathway. They recommend that land-use policies are developed, planning policy radically overhauled and criticise the support for high-carbon developments including the proposed coal mine here in Cumbria, and new oil and gas production. The committee want better public engagement on climate strategy to empower households to make low-carbon choices. Watch a video highlighting the key messages from the report.
CAfS has been working in this field for 25 years – doggedly building awareness of both the threats we face in this rural county from climate change and the multiple solutions and benefits that acting on its causes can bring. We have at times had very limited funding, few allies and a tiny team. In 2014 there were just six part time staff. Now we have near to 40. We’ve brought organisations of all kinds together, pulled millions of £s into Cumbria and run multiple projects to support individuals, communities and organisations make the transition from high to low carbon living and working. Just last week we were mentioned in a Westminster debate by Tim Farron MP for our work on home energy efficiency.
We’re particularly proud to have helped to create the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership , a group of diverse organisations from across the county, now working together to plan how we collectively bring Cumbria’s fossil fuel emissions to net zero. As the CCC so clearly points out, we ‘need to act with the utmost urgency’ but whilst there is much that we can all do here to reduce our use of fossil fuels, we are also highly dependent on the right government policies and incentives. So we very much hope that government will respond to the Chair of the CCC, Lord Deben’s plea that it now acts ‘decisively and with ambition’. We’re doing our bit locally for Zero Carbon Cumbria – we need our national leaders to do their bit too.
